Content distribution systems are used to provide content to a plurality of end systems. For example, in video-on-demand applications media content has been made available to and utilized by satellite/cable television subscribers. Typically, subscribers can view at their television the video programs available for selection (sometimes for an additional fee) and upon selection made at the subscriber's set-top-box (STB), the program is sent from the program center to the set-top-box via the cable or satellite network. That is, in such media distribution systems, a selection has to be made at the point of display for determining media content to be viewed.
Similarly, in the advertising realm, providing in-store retail media content is becoming the most popular advertising medium in use today, with broadcast distribution being its primary means of content presentation. That is, in recent years retailers and the managers of public spaces have brought in video display systems for advertising use. In such systems, content is distributed by a server and received at a respective set-top-box for each display or group of displays. Retailers use the displays to present their current offerings or sale information, while the public spaces sell time on the video displays to advertisers either national or local, knowing that large numbers of consumers will see the presentation.
However, there are drawbacks to the currently available media distribution models, such as those described above. More specifically, in such applications, when broadcast means are established, the broadcasts means restricts all displays receiving the broadcast media content to presenting the same material simultaneously. That is, in currently available broadcast applications, media content is broadcast to a plurality of set-top boxes configured to receive the broadcast media content. The set-top boxes then communicate the media content to respective displays. As such, the displays associated with the set-top boxes that received the media content form a group of displays that present the same material simultaneously. The group of displays, however, is not dynamic and continue to present the same media content received by the respective set-top boxes configured to receive the broadcast media content. Such a limitation makes it impossible to change display groupings which can be advantageous in not only the video-on-demand and in-store advertising applications, but also in other current and future media content distribution applications.
Other drawbacks exist in other media content distribution applications as well. For example, in a non-broadcast scenario, the addition of a single piece of new content to a presentation loop would require the reediting of the display master media. In addition, in such media content distribution applications, it is not possible to vary the content or even the sequencing of the media content once it is deployed.
As such, there is thus a need for a new type of content distribution and grouping means which overcomes the above described deficiencies in the state of the art as well as other related deficiencies and which provides for content distribution including dynamic grouping without the need for manual intervention at the point of display.